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Senior Essay

               Moving to ACLC was probably one of the best decisions of my life. I still remember when that pamphlet came in the mail, prompting me to go to there. I also remember that choosing between ACLC and Lincoln was a difficult decision for me at the time. I had to make the decision of sticking with my elementary school friends and going to Lincoln, or venturing into uncharted territory at a new school at ACLC. You can already tell how that story ends. Of course now if I had to relive that moment, I would choose ACLC in a heartbeat.

Through my 7 years of being here, even though it felt like a couple years, I feel like I’ve really grown immensely as a person. This school has taught me so many valuable life skills that I may have not learned at Lincoln, or Alameda High for that matter. I learned how to manage my time well through free periods, and opening up to interacting with different grades, both which are hard or impossible to do at a regular school. The technological environment also widened my knowledge of computers and how to use them effectively and efficiently. In another aspect, ACLC has helped me become more outspoken as a person due to the project based learning. Making friends at ACLC was extremely easy due to the various demographics. This actually helped me learn a lot about myself because I became friends with people who had similar personalities and interests.

               In the academic part of ACLC, we focus a lot on core classes like math, English, science and history. What is definitely an advantage over some schools is that ACLC sometimes intertwines its subjects. For example, you could be reading a book in English that is from a certain era, and you could be learning about the same era in history. This strategy allowed me to see and understand many different things that I would not have seen or understood if I was just reading the book, or just learning about that era. In English, I learned to properly write an essay, read with ease and speak comfortably in public. In history, I learned the basic information of both our past and present history, while stimulating my mind with thought provoking questions from my book. Likewise, in mathematics, I was taught everything from basic calculations to trigonometric equations and how they can be utilized in real life situations. Over the years, I’ve learned so much from many different facilitators come and gone, knowledge that I will keep through the years. Not only has ACLC taught me a tremendous amount in school, it introduced me to my passion. In 6th grade, I first heard about the middle school and high school Ultimate team (Junior Meat and Dark Meat) from a friend who wound up showing a video in class. I wanted to try out, but I wasn’t in the best physical shape since I had quit soccer all those years back. So I bided my time, throwing with my dad until my freshman year of high school when I finally mustered up the courage to join with my new friend, Brendan. Don’t get me wrong, I was still out of shape, but that was a defining year in my life because I tried so hard to be good just to keep up with the rest of the team because I felt that I was a setback. Honestly, that year, I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t practicing at the Encinal field every day during lunch. Skipping forward to 2012, I captained the Ultimate U16 National’s team representing California at the Youth Club Championship after winning the California State Championships with my team for the 8th time in a row. In 2013, I had finished a successful year of captaining Dark Meat, leading them with my co-captain to finals of States. We wound up losing and settling for second that year, but that loss just gave me a reason to push myself and train harder and harder every day.

               ACLC is one of those schools that let you take control of your own education. Being here has taught me that there is no one way of managing your time or one way or learning. I had to discover for myself what methods best suited me. Throughout the many projects I’ve done in my 7 years here, I have acquired the skills needed to use my imagination whenever I wanted and wherever I wanted. This is a skill that I know I will cherish for the rest of my life.  Using this skill of imagination has made problem solving a lot easier (and I’m not talking about just math problems). Of course, over the years, I have run into my fair share of silly and serious problems and had to find a way through it or around it whether it was deciding on a JC punishment, or having to deal with problems during Dark Meat practice.

The warm, welcoming ACLC community has definitely helped me to learn and appreciate our diversity. It is one of those things that you are submerged in and surrounded by every day, and you wind up enjoying being a part of it.  As a part this community, I feel that it is my duty to help people when they need it because as a senior, that they look up to me as a role model. This and the feeling of wanting to be more involved in the community is what convinced me to join leadership. Having to lead a small group in activities and discussions has made me even more comfortable with public. I also enjoy working with younger learners. For example, I have been a teacher’s assistant for the Creative Expressions class ever since I took it myself when I was in 6th and 7th grade. One of the main reasons why I help out with this class is to get to know all the younger learners and to show that the upperclassmen are not, in fact, scary. This is also an advantage to me because I am able to learn all the younger learners’ names.

               Technology is similar to the community at ACLC. You are surrounded by it and you learn to appreciate it. At the beginning of 6th grade, I almost never used the computer unless it was to play games or to check my email because I was so used to writing things on a boring sheet of lined paper. However, as I progressed through school, I learned to appreciate technology much more, not only because my assignments had to be typed, but because I was fascinated with everything that it could do. I became very familiar with Microsoft Word, Powerpoint, Excel, Paint, and Prezi. This is partly why I volunteered as a Flat Screen newscaster. One day my friend and I were walking through the old Center and we saw the sad blank Flat Screen that used to be home to the infamous “Flat Screen News” back when I was a 6th grader. It seemed no one cared enough to update it, so my friend and I took it upon ourselves to get the Flat Screen News up and running again our sophomore year. It was successful enough that we continued to update it through our junior and senior years. Even though no one looked at it that often, or said we were doing a great job, there was just something satisfying about it. It was one of the things that made my mornings exciting. Printers are another big part of the ACLC technology community. It was the one piece of machinery that was in full use every day. If one broke down, too bad about that homework you were supposed to turn in next period! It was a real pain whenever one broke down, so I decided to watch people fix the printer on my spare time to see how the printers actually worked. As it turns out, a select few ACLC learners knew how to fix the printers and I Iearned from them how to unjam paper from the printer and add paper when it ran out. Though a small thing, this information really made the difference when I could pass on my knowledge to the younger learners when they were having troubles with the printer.

            The valuable life skills ACLC has provided me with will serve me well throughout my years of college and beyond. I am eternally grateful for the opportunities this amazing school has given me. It’s hard to say goodbye after being here for more than forty percent of my life. A part of me wants to go, but the rest of me wants to remain here. The memories and friendships that I’ve made at this school are no doubt the highlights of my life thus far. However, I have to move on and continue to make more memories that will cherish as much as my time here. Though it is all coming to an end, I feel that I am well prepared for college because of ACLC, and I thank it for everything!

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